We Don’t Believe Others Need to Fail for Us to Succeed: Samir Kumar, Country Manager, Amazon India

In a country as vast and diverse as India, Amazon India believes, there is enough headroom for each retail format to coexist. In a recent conversation with FE Retail, Amazon India Country Manager, Samir Kumar, highlights how the company is not just building the ecosystem, but also creating infrastructure for digital India.  He spoke at length about Amazon’s hyper-local approach, about tailoring offerings to the unique needs of each pin code. According to Kumar, both premiumisation and value-driven consumption are thriving in parallel across the country.

Excerpts: 

You have launched quick commerce services in Delhi NCR. How is Amazon planning to address consumer expectations around the quick (10-20-minutes) delivery?

At Amazon, our focus has always been on offering customers a wide selection of products with convenient and fast delivery. 

While quick commerce may seem like a departure from traditional models, it is a natural extension of our existing capabilities in fast and reliable fulfillment. The real complexity lies in the supply chain—specifically, ensuring local hubs are stocked with the right products and maintaining high availability. The key to success in quick commerce will be maximising the variety of items in these hubs while tailoring inventory to the specific needs of each customer base.  This is where Amazon’s deep technology stack, data-driven inventory management, and proven last-mile delivery capabilities give us an advantage.

Amazon has always focused on offering customers a wide selection with convenient and fast delivery. We are running our 10 mins delivery service Amazon Now in select pin-codes in Bengaluru and Delhi, and are excited with the initial customer response and positive feedback, especially from Prime members. Based on this, we are now expanding the service over the next few months. Through Amazon Now, we offer a curated selection of everyday essentials delivered within minutes, addressing immediate customer needs while maintaining Amazon's standards for safety, quality and reliability.

For our Prime members, Amazon Fresh already delivers a curated selection of must-have products—including groceries, pet supplies, beauty and health care items, baby products, cleaning essentials, and office supplies—in 2-hour blocks. We currently deliver around 40,000 items within 2–4 hours, 10 lakh items the same day, and 40 lakh items the next day. 

These capabilities reflect our ongoing efforts to meet evolving customer expectations, not just with speed, but with the assurance of selection, quality, and dependability that customers expect from Amazon India.

With the introduction of ads on Prime Video in India, how do you plan to balance user experience with monetisation, especially in a price-sensitive market like India?

Today, Prime Video is a popular destination for blockbuster entertainment across 10 languages, in India. In 2024, we added more than 1,400 Indian and international titles, including new Originals, the latest movies, and iconic classics—all curated to meet the diverse tastes of our audience. 

As we introduce advertising on Prime Video in India, we are ensuring that ad formats are non-intrusive and relevant, and that the overall viewing experience remains seamless. Our approach is guided by customer feedback and data-driven insights, with the aim of enhancing value for both viewers and advertisers.

Ultimately, our focus remains on delighting customers with great content, while exploring monetisation models that are sustainable and aligned with the expectations of a price-sensitive and highly engaged Indian audience.

India is one of the most engaged markets for Prime Video globally, and we remain committed to offering high-quality content in a way that respects viewer preferences. 

Amazon has faced regulatory scrutiny in India around FDI norms and alleged anticompetitive practices. How are you ensuring greater compliance and transparency with Indian laws today?

At Amazon, we are committed to the highest standards of compliance and are fully aligned with all applicable laws and regulations in India. As a global company, we operate within the legal frameworks of every country we serve, and India is no exception. Our focus remains on delivering value to our sellers and customers while ensuring full regulatory compliance.

We take a proactive and collaborative approach in engaging with policy makers, regulatory bodies, and other key stakeholders to ensure that our practices are aligned with India’s evolving digital and retail landscape.

Over the past 12 years, Amazon has grown to become one of the most visited and trusted online marketplaces in India. We are proud of the role that we have played in supporting India’s digital economy and enabling inclusive growth. 

Today, Amazon.in hosts over 1.6 million sellers, with more than 50% coming from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. We have made deep investments in building an open, transparent, and inclusive marketplace where lakhs of small businesses, including artisans, weavers, local offline stores, and women entrepreneurs can thrive. Our systems are designed to ensure equitable access and opportunity for all sellers, with no preferential treatment. Through our Global Selling program, over 150,000 Indian exporters are reaching customers worldwide with more than 400 million ‘Made in India’ products.

As regulations evolve, we continue to strengthen our internal processes, audit mechanisms, and compliance governance to ensure we meet and exceed expectations set by Indian authorities. We remain deeply committed to India’s long-term growth story and will continue to innovate responsibly within the boundaries of the regulatory bodies.

The Indian e-commerce space is highly competitive with Flipkart, Reliance, and Meesho all innovating fast. What is Amazon’s differentiated long-term strategy for India?

E-commerce in India accounts for just 5-6% of total retail consumption in India, which underscores the massive headroom for innovation, inclusion, and sustainable growth. At Amazon, we don’t believe others need to fail for us to succeed. Our focus is on building a strong, customer-centric business that delivers long-term value. 

We are deeply committed to India and are building on the incredible trust we have earned from millions of Indian consumers and sellers. Our long-term vision is rooted in creating a scalable, sustainable, and profitable business powered by ongoing investments in technology, physical and digital infrastructure, and India-first innovation. Our deep focus on customer experience, local language support, hyperlocal supply chains, and fast, reliable delivery ensures we stay relevant to Bharat as much as to India’s metros.

You’ve completed 12 years of operation in India. How has been the growth journey? Share a few top retail and consumer buying trends with our readers.

Amazon’s 12-year journey in India has been both inspiring and humbling. We began with just 100 sellers offering mainly books from one fulfillment center in Mumbai. Today, we work with over 1.6 million sellers nationwide, with more than half from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. 

We built unique Indian solutions for unique Indian challenges. Programs including Karigar, and Local Shops, have enabled access and inclusion across the board; impacting 1.8 million artisans and bringing over 2.7 lakh local shops across 350+ cities onto our platform. We have democratized access, with delivery to 100% of India's serviceable ZIP codes. We have contributed to India's socioeconomic growth by creating over 1.4 million direct and indirect jobs—about a third of the number of people who work in India's IT and ITeS sector. 

We've made ambitious pledges to digitise one crore small businesses, enable $20 billion in exports, and create 20 lakh jobs by 2025, and are on track to deliver on these commitments having already digitised over 62 lakh small businesses and enabled over $13 billion in cumulative exports. 

Beyond commerce, we've integrated into India's social fabric through Prime Video bringing blockbuster entertainment in multiple languages. Amazon Pay simplifies digital payments for customers and small businesses, and Alexa becomes part of lakhs of Indian households while improving learning experiences for students in rural and semi-urban areas.

India’s retail landscape is going through rapid evolution, driven by a blend of affordability, aspiration, and digital adoption. A prominent trend is the coexistence of premiumisation and value-seeking behaviour. Consumers in Tier-II and III cities are opting for both premium and ultra-affordable products, reflecting a nuanced and diverse market. Speed and convenience have become non-negotiable expectations, with growing preference for services that offer same-day or next-day delivery. 

The rise of the creator economy and widespread adoption of digital payments, now preferred by over 90% of online shoppers, highlight the shift toward tech-enabled, frictionless commerce. Regional markets are driving the next wave of growth as the majority of new online shoppers are coming from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. These markets are also mirroring the trends of metro cities in terms of premium product adoption and category engagement, signaling a maturing digital commerce ecosystem across India.